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| Four cops get six years RI in '93 blasts case | | |
MUMBAI, MAY 21
Four police constables, who let the trucks carrying RDX and weapons pass without checking in January 1993, were today awarded six years' rigorous imprisonment for their crime which allowed the deadly explosives used in March 12 blasts to reach Mumbai,
Observing that "it will send a wrong signal" if the cops were given a lesser sentence, the special Judge in the TADA court Pramod Kode while noting that "the nation comes first" refused to show leniency despite their family circumstances.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on Ashok Muneshwar, Pandharinath Mahadik, Ramesh D Mali and Shrikrishna Yeshwant Pashilkar, all of whom took bribe in connivance with their superior officer to allow the consignment through.
The cops were posted at Dongar Phata, Shrivardhan taluk, in eighbouring Raigad district on January nine, 1993, when the deadly RDX consignment passed.
All four of them started weeping silently as special Judge Pramod Kode read out the sentence. It is the first sentence of public servants in connection with the blasts that killed 257 persons and injuring over 1,000.
Handing over punishment in another conviction in the blasts case, the court sentenced Mansoor Ahmed Sayyed Ahmed accused of having transported arms and ammunition from the residence of actor Sanjay Dutt to another accused to 10 years RI besides ordering a fine of Rs 50,000.
Following court proceedings, special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said: "This is a very important sentence with regard to the case of actor Sanjay Dutt as Mansoor had taken the arms from his residence." Mansoor is an alleged aide of extradited gangster Abu Salem.
The court said that Mansoor would have to undergo one year RI if he failed to pay the fine imposed by the court. It also observed that Mansoor had already undergone over nine and half years in custody.
Mansoor was found guilty of carrying weapons from the residence of Dutt in suburban Bandra to the house of another accused Zebunisa Qazi.
The court had accepted Mansoor's confession in which he said he had carried the weapons on the instructions of Salem.
In the case of the four convicted cops, Kode noted that despite the truck having been intercepted they did not bother to check it, but instead connived with their superior, police sub inspector Vijay Patil in accepting bribe to let it through. The trucks carrying RDX and arms landed at Dighi coast.
At the same time, the judge also gave a reasoning for not awarding them life sentence -- the maximum sentence prescribed under Section 3 (3) of TADA (aiding and abetting terrorist act). He said the decision to take bribe and let the truck pass was taken by their superior Patil.
"To an extent they were bound to obey Patil's orders," Kode said, but also added that "without their connivance Patil could not have taken the decision to let the contraband through.
"There was no evidence to infer that they(the four cops)were against his(Patil) decision," the Judge stated.
While Patil was convicted for being party to the conspiracy too, the four convicted cops were spared of that charge. The judge, who is likely to announce Vijay Patil's sentence tomorrow, said that these four, being his subordinates, deserved lesser sentence.
Patil and these officers had accepted altogether Rs seven lakh as a bribe.
All the four have spent two years and seven months in the prison already, and this period will be set off against the sentence. However, if they failed to pay the fine, there would be an additional one year's jail term.
The judge also ordered confiscation of money and articles seized from them. After their arrests, police had seized Rs 30,000 from Muneshwar, Rs 60,000 from Mahadik, Rs 15,000 from Mali and a scooter from Pashilkar.
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